consensus ad idem
Section 13 of the Indian Contract Act says two or more persons consent when they agree upon the same thing in the same sense. Without this there is no consent at all, and the agreement is void, not merely voidable. That separates it from lack of free consent under s.14, where consent exists but is caused by coercion, fraud and the like, making the contract voidable.
Typical cases are a mistake about the identity of the subject matter, as where each party meant a different ship of the same name, and a mistake about the nature of the document signed. Courts judge agreement objectively, by what the parties said and did, not by unexpressed intentions.
Example
Since the seller meant one plot and the buyer another of the same survey number, there was no consensus ad idem under section 13 and the agreement is void.
In Indian law
- Section 13, Indian Contract Act, 1872 (consent defined)
- Raffles v. Wichelhaus (Court of Exchequer, England, 1864): two ships named Peerless
See also
free consent · mistake · non est factum · offer
Read more in the study notes
- Criminal conspiracy and attempt (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
- Offences against public tranquillity (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
- Free consent: coercion and undue influence (Contract I)
- Mistake (Contract I)